How far are you comfortable driving in a day?

[Caffeinated]

As I get older, I find I can't/don't want to make marathon all day drives any more. The longest drive I've made, a few years ago, was part of a regular run, was from Canyonville OR to Santa Nella CA and that took about 14 hrs. I find I just can't drive that long anymore. These days I'm much more comfortable calling it quits after 4 to six hours. That gives me time to wake up, have breakfast, break camp, and get to the next spot set up, relax with a beer or glass of wine, take a walk with the doxies, and generally enjoy being out on the road.

Does this jive with anyone's experience?

Mike

[trekerboy]

With little ones (3 and 1 year olds), 8 hours of driving max (about 12 hours total with stops, etc...), though in a pinch we did 22 hours once (not ideal for anyone).

[dznf0g]

I can still do 500 miles relatively comfortably, and have to on a regular basis, as I am not yet retired and on "no schedule". However, those 500 mile days are more of a challenge than they used to be. 400 is very comfortable still....which is usually 8 hours.

[Tater]

We're retired but if we have nothing planned between points A and B, we drive 8 -12 hours. We make advanced reservations and don't do Walmart stops.

[AtomicNo13]

Ive got my whole family in tow.... after all the peeing and I need a drinks of water, 300 miles is a big day for us.
On travel days we like to get up enjoy a good breakfast then hit the trail. I have a rule of being off the road around 3:00. Chances of finding a good site or good out of the way parking spot are better this way.
As I get older less stress more rest and good end of day libations become important!

[ondaroadagin]

After a lifetime of hard driving, and a portion of it as a paramedic working for an ambulance service on the road all day and into the night, my partner and I like to hold our Airstream adventures down to shorter, appreciative, relaxed driving, in the range of 2-3 hours and about 200 miles, with a stay of around 2 days or more if appropriate...Hey! Didn't someone here talk about a 2-2-2 rule?

Not everyone has the luxury of time, but if you do, make the most of it...time keeps on slippin' slippin' slippin', into the future...

[spenfolder]

I'm with you Mike. When I'm on a trip, and trying to really relax, I like to drive about 3-5 hours a day, get in to camp early and settle in for a day or two. I don't like to stress about setting up camp in the dark, or breaking down camp in a hurry in the morning. Having said that, I still make the long drives when I'm crossing Nevada for California or the PNW. Once you've done it a few times, there is just not all that much to see or do in the middle of Nevada. No offense to the Silver State, of course!

Stan
Salt Lake City

[LiLNomad]

Under 200 miles. My butt starts to hurt by then.
LilNomad

[SeaLevel]

We like to plan our stops about 3-4 hours apart. We can go longer if needed, but 3-4 hours makes everything more enjoyable.

[Woosch]

350 is what I use for planning purposes. 400ish gets to be a little much.

[Protagonist]

I tend to follow the Department of Defense Joint Travel Regulations (JTR) more now than I did when I actually worked for the DoD at the Corps of Engineers.

* For a one-day drive or the last day of a multi-day drive, 425 miles.
* For every other day of a multi-day drive, only 350 miles.
* During any given day, stops every two hours for at least 15 minutes to get out and walk around, with at least half an hour for lunch— corollary, no eating while driving, though I do make sure to stay hydrated while behind the wheel.
* It doesn't matter how many people share the driving duties, the limits are the same, because the second and subsequent drivers don't start off rested; riding in a vehicle as a passenger is not as tiring as driving, but it's not as restful as actually sleeping in a real bed, either, so the regulations assume that everyone in the vehicle is equally tired at any given time.

The JTR limits are based on decades of research by the DoD regarding vehicular accidents; the chance of an accident goes up after mile 350 no matter what the speed limit is or how long it takes to drive those 350 miles. The only reason for the 425-mile limit on the last driving day is because DoD found it wasteful to stop for the night just 75 miles from your destination.

I don't follow those rules slavishly, however. I will drive up to 500 miles on the last day of a drive— IF and only if I'm homeward bound. My apartment doesn't have a check-in desk and I won't get lost if I arrive after dark.

[lsbrodsky]

4-6 hours including stops and lunch, about 250 miles typically, maybe a bit more or a bit less. Time for breakfast in the morning, disconnect, then time to reconnect and relax before starting dinner.
Larry

[featherbedder]

Used to drive from Fla. keys one go with usual stops to eat nature calls etc., when in 1960s and 1970s last one 1991 to Daytona Fla. some long hauls when sons were still racing pro flat track motorcycles, now 300 to 400 max, back and butt won't take it plus wife says no more. Before retired as conductor on rr many long days long rides, plus 82 old not 30 or 40. but I like to drive at nite but wife says no, stop early leave late. Guess who wins. Also those days partial interstate hwys. some not started other like Chgo. To Fla. parts not done, still 2 lane roads

[Plan-B]

I have pulled AS for 21 years now. Retired 4 years ago. This all summer adventure is the first with no kids in tow saying Dad, you drive too slow , Dad you stop too much, Dad I need to be back on this date...thus the 5-600 mile days for four days. This year, Max is 400 when flat lands, 250 in curvey two laners. All I can say is, I was doing it wrong the first 20 years. Damn, I'm really enjoying the journey now , not just the destination. Do miss the kids though :-(

[dkottum]

We base it on our next destination, if it's 200 miles or 500 miles thats what we do. Our towing combination is very comfortable on long drives. A long distance between destinations and Walmart is our friend for the night along the way, we don't usually care for highway campgrounds.

[alantbird]

I drive till i cant read the road signs which is usually at dusk and then I find a place to park for the night.

[kdickinson]

we have done 12 hours when we had to and every time we did we swore "never again" but sometimes you get tied to the math of travel - miles / mph = driving hours. When I lay out an itinerary for a long trip (more than a few hundred miles over a couple weeks) I include the daily miles and estimated drive times (which can be blown up by weather, construction, traffic, etc.) and try to arrange our trips to be similar to your target - 4-6 hours. This year we have worked to identify camp grounds that are in a 3-4 hour drive radius so we can comfortably leave mid-morning, grab lunch somewhere, check in at 2:00 check in time, and be set up in time for happy hour. For us it's Cotopaxi, Buena Vista, Cripple Creek, Estes Park, Grand Lake, and a handful of others.

[TRizzuti]

This discussion has come up periodically and I've tried to go by the "rule" someone posted over a year ago -- no faster than 60 mph, no farther than 300 miles per day, be in the campsite between 3pm and 5pm. I've broken the "rule" a few times, but I find this works well for me. I'm not as tired, I can be setup before dark. I can have a meal fixed and eaten at a resonable hour.

[Piggy Bank]

When planning our recent long trip, I took the miles, and used these estimated average speeds to calculate expected drive times.
55 on interstates and US highways , 40 on highways with mountain driving, and 30 within the national parks.

Then I divided the distance by the average speed, and rounded up to get the hours of drive time.

How did this work?

We learned that we need to add on an additional 30 minutes of time for any larger city on the way, because of traffic slow downs, commuters, and such.

All and all was pretty accurate for driving at around 60, and fueling and food stops.

This let us plan well for lunch and overnights along the way.

Don't forget about changing time zones too.

[sallye]

We are both retired, so can add on days to our trips as needed. I do all the driving, so I don't like going more than 200 - 250 miles a day. We stop for a couple of days and then move on. There is one trip we've taken the past two springs that is a one day, 385 mile trip, but it's almost all interstate and a pretty straight shot, so that is the exception and we do that on the first day going out and break it up a bit on the way back.

Since I do all the driving, I've found that I do better if I frequently change my hand positions on the wheel and rotate my shoulders around every so often. Driving too long with my arms and hands in one place makes them sore after awhile.

On the way home I like to be back by about 3 PM at the latest. The city traffic gets too bad after that.